This invention relates to a token game machine in which individual tokens or coin-like pieces are caused to move along a surface of a panel and a player wins or looses depending on which locations on the panel tokens pass.
Such token game machines are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 5-13486, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-71026, for example. According to these Publications, a conventional token game machine is provided with pockets at several locations on a panel to catch tokens or allow them to pass through. If a token dropped along the panel surface falls into or passes through one of those pockets, the machine detects it and illuminates a light at a specific location on a bingo display provided on the panel or causes a roulette wheel to rotate. When a complete row of lights on the bingo display are illuminated, or when the roulette wheel stops to make a particular combination of printed patterns, the machine judges that the player has won and pays off a predefined number of tokens.
According to the above-described construction of the conventional token game machine, each pocket is correlated with a particular location on the bingo display, or with a particular roulette turning command. Therefore, the player could more or less predict the later progress of each game based on which pockets individual tokens go in. This used to make the player feel the game rather monotonous and lose interest in it once he or she has become familiar with the use of the token game machine.